Gaming industry continues to grow

A study from research firm Newzoo shows that the gaming industry will once again make strides in 2017. The industry’s total turnover should reach 108.9 billion dollars (nearly 100 billion euro) for the full year.

China leads the pack

This would be a 7.8 % increase compared to 2016. The mobile industry is the most lucrative market for the second year in a row, raking in 46.1 billion dollars (41 million euro), up 19 % compared to last year. Digital turnover represents about 87 % of the market.

There are about 2.2 billion active gamers across the world and 47 % actually spends money on games. China leads the pack, with a 27.5 billion dollar (25 billion euro) turnover. This is more than North America or EMEA. Latin America achieves the highest growth pace, up 13.9 %, but its 4.4 billion dollar (4 billion euro) share shows it is still a developing market. The Asia-Pacific region will contribute about half of the gaming industry’s global turnover.

“The gaming industry has been the world’s largest entertainment industry for several years now, larger than movies or music, a trend that does not seem like it will end anytime soon. Thanks to the mobile games’ surge in popularity, everyone can become a gamer and that will only create an even bigger industry”, co-founder of Belgian 4Entertainment (which owns gaming site 4Gamers.be) Steven Leunens said. “eSports, which is professional gaming, is also becoming more popular and also shows that there is a lot more happening in the gaming industry.”